Large span building covering unit



Nov. 20, 1962 w. D. BEHLEN LARGE SPAN BUILDING COVERING UNIT 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 25, 1959 Nov. 20, 1962 w. D. BEHLEN 3,064,771

LARGE SPAN BUILDING COVERING UNIT Filed Aug. 25, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR.

WALTER D. BEHLEN BYfim Nov. 20, 1962 w. D. BEHLEN 3,064,771

LARGE SPAN BUILDING COVERING UNIT Filed Aug. 25, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

WAL ER D. BEHLEN BY Az- 3,064,771 LARGE SPAN BUEDING COVERHYG UNIT Walter B. Behlen, Behlen Mfg. Co.,

7 Columbus, Nebr. Filed Aug. 25, 1959, Ser. No. 835,986 8 Claims. (Cl. 189-34) This invention relates to building construction and more particularly it is an object to provide a giant-area-covering structure unit adapted to be used in a wall but when used in a roof being of such great strength as to be usable over great unsupported roof spans, such as auditoriums, football stadiums and the like, the unit also being economical and attractive, free from unsightly exposed structural bracing.

Ceilings conventionally have been made in various materials, such as rock lath, plywood, plaster and in some cases metal panels. In most of these types of construction the ceiling covering has been applied in sections which are not attached to each other but are instead only attached to the roof supporting structural members normally hidden above the ceiling. For this reason ceilings have provided no additional strength to conventional buildings, but in fact have been only a dead-load.

Because of this disadvantage it has been popular in recent years for architects to advise the use of exposed structural steel for making ceilingless buildings to reduce the costs. This however results in relatively unsightly interior appearance since all of the structural steel supporting the roof in a ceilingless building is unattractively naked and visible.

Ceilingless buildings are increasingly advocated even though they are unsightly because, although architects and engineers have tried in vain to find a way to make large buildings having covered ceilings at lower costs, they have failed to find a practical solution.

Conventional roof construction like ceiling construction has similarly been lacking in the possibility of strength without excessive costs. Architects and engineers have fastened the wooden roof sheathing or metal roof panels to the roof rafters of I-beam roof supports but have not conventionally connected the separate roof covering sections or panels to each other.

These conditions of the prior art were in my mind at the time of my conception of this invention which is: a giant-area-covering structural unit usable as a Wall or as a roof, the unit having two composite plates which are disposed respectively on the top and bottom when the unit is used as a roof, and in which the composite plates are formed of corrugated panels with diagonal bracing therebetween.

An important part of my invention is to form the corrugated composite plates of many individual corrugated panels rigidly attached to each other at their adjoining sides in large and small spans, and at adjoining ends also when large spans are used.

A further object is to provide composite plates in such a structural unit which are of great strength because they are corrugated and because the panels of each composite plate are connected so strongly together as to act as a single giant member capable of supporting great loads.

Further strength is achieved because the composite 3,@%42,77l Patented Nov. 26, 1962 a bow and bow string with one arched and the other straight. These constructions are each respectively useful in making a flat roof, a curved roof and curved ceiling, and a curved roof and flat ceiling.

In conventional wide-span roof construction it has been customary to span the required area with structural trusses. These trusses are then securely braced to prevent lateral deflection of the compression flanges of the trusses. After these widely spaced trusses have been properly braced, smaller members such as bar-joists are placed across the large trusses at their upper chords. The narrower space between the bar joists is then spanned by a sheathing of wood boards, corrugated metal or other material upon which a built-up roof composed of tar and felt can be laid.

If a ceiling is desired to hide the trusses and bar joists which are visible from below, it has been necessary to also span from truss to truss at the lower chords of the trusses with bar-joists, or their equivalent, to which a ceiling of corrugated metal, board or plaster can be fastened.

In such conventional construction, the entire roof load across the span is carried by the large trusses. The bar joists at both the upper and lower chords of the trusses are not stressed in the direction of the span and do not contribute toward carrying the load of the trusses, but merely rest on and transfer their load to the trusses from the spaces between the trusses.

The sheathing and built-up roof at the upper chords of the trusses and the ceiling at the lower chords of the trusses are also unstressed and do not contribute toward carrying the load of the trusses but merely add to the deadload of the trusses.

In my construction, deeply formed, or channel ridged, light gauge sheets fastened together to form a unitary sheet metal plate replace the upper chord of the conventional truss, the upper bar joists and also the complete built-up roof, eliminating these parts without loss of any of the strength afforded by these conventional parts.

Similarly at the ceiling line, my construction uses similar rigid light gauge sheets fastened to form a single composite plate to replace the conventional lower truss chord, lower bar joists, and also the complete ceiling assembly, eliminating these parts as Well and without loss of any of the strength afforded by these conventional parts.

Further parts eliminated include the lateral bracing required with conventional trusses and not required in my construction.

Strength is not lost however as the roof-sized plate of my invention is supported and held firmly in place at its edges with respect to a similar ceiling plate.

While many parts are eliminated their purpose of strength is retained and greater strength per roof weight is achieved.

The total weight of a complete roof of my design will be equal to the weight of only the necessary trusses in a conventional wide span roof. The use of such dead-load materials as lateral bracing members, bar joists, roof sheathing, built-up roof and ceiling are completely eliminated. As a roof must be designed to carry both dead and live roof loads, the elimination of these dead-load materials in the roof itself will result in a lighter weight roof, which in turn again reduces the total weight of necessary materials in the roof.

It is a further object to provide structural units in which the area covering plates are formed of vertical rows of panels attached together at their ends whereby the lengths of the curved panels are such that they can be cheaply and easily transported.

A further object is the presence in my construction of one set of spaced braces extending transversely of a secnd set and both sets extending transversely of the composite plates.

Yet another object is to provide a construction in which braces of a' first set are attached to braces of the second set whereby said bracing exerts forces against itself as well as against said composite plates when a load presses against one of said composite plates.

A further object of the invention is to provide a structure which is substantially leak-proof because the bracing is secured to the composite plates by other means.

A further object is in the provision of my structural units of plates formed of material having smaller longitudinal corrugations formed in the larger longitudinal corrugations to achieve great strength.

It is alsoan objective to provide the use of bracing composed of separate sections for providing a minimum of bracing costs as stamping or embossing sheet metal of the large sizes need-ed for big buildings is of prohibitive cost.

A further object is to provide for corrugated inner and outer plates with diagonal bracing as well as the desirability of outer plate panels interconnected not only at their vertical edges, but, as in my invention, at their horizontal edges as well, to form a unitary composite plate and in the end a unitary building structure in' which the inner and outer plates and diagonal bracing all work together for maximum strength per weight as well as maximum economy. i

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description, drawings and claims, the scope of the invention not being limited to the drawings themselves as the drawings are only for the purpose of illustrating a way in which the principles of this invention can be applied.

Other embodiments of the invention utilizing the same or equivalent principles may be used and structural changes may be made as desired by those skilled in the art without departing from the present invention and the purview of the'appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an end view looking horizontally at a structural unit of this invention, shown in position for use as a roof or roof and ceiling assembly, the modification of FIG. 1 providing an arched roof and an arched ceiling;

FIGURE 2 is an end view of a modified structural unit of this invention showing a unit extending horizontally which has substantially straight or flat roof and ceiling portion;

FIGURE 3 is an end view of a generally horizontally extending modified structural unit of this invention which is disposed in a bow-string roof shape with an arched roof composite plate portion and a straight relatively flat'composite plate ceiling portion;

FIGURE 4' is a perspective view of the modified structural unit of FIG. 2 as it would be seen substantially from the left forward corner of FIG. 2; 7

FIGURE 5 is a detail of the roof modification of FIG. 2 showing a portion of the latter enlarged;

. FIGURE 6 is a left end view of the modification of FIG. 2; i a

' FIGURE 7 is a top plan view of the modification of FIG. 2.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed description of the invention and to FIG. 2, We there find a structural unit generally indicated at 10 having a composite upper plate 12 which latter, as best seen in FIG. 7, is

formed of a group of corrugated panels 14, some of which are disposed in end-to-end relationship and others which are disposed side-to-side.

Bolts, rivets or spot weldings 16 or other suitable means are used for securing the panels together preferably on all of the adjoining edges whereby the entire composite plate 12 sets as a single composite plate. 7

Referring to FIGS. 2, 4, 5 and 6 we can there see a secand such composite plate 20 which can be the ceiling plate when the unit is used as the roof of a building.

The second composite plate 20 is similar to the first composite plate, or roof plate 12, and so FlG. 7 will serve also to illustrate the appearance of the second or ceiling plate 20 as it would be seen looking upwardly at it, as both have the same appearance when the upper side of the first or roof plate 12 is compared with the underside of the ceiling composite plate 20.

The second composite plate 29 is spaced from the first composite plate a suitable distance for the placing of brac- 7 ing means, generally indicated at 30, therebetween.

Referring now to FIG. 6, it will be seen that the corrugated panels 14 of the plates 12 and 20 are not only provided with corrugations 34 extending upwardly and other corrugations 36 extending downwardly but are further provided'with corrugations or ridges 38 of lesser size disposed between the corrugations 34 and 36 which are of greater size.

It will be seen that both of the corrugations 34 and 36 extend longitudinally of the elongated panels 14 and that all corrugations 34 and 36 are disposed in parallelism with each other in the preferred form of the invention.

Referring to the FIGURES 4 and 5 a preferred form of the bracing 30 is there shown in which the bracing has portions, braces or members 50 extending diagonally with V respect to the composite plates 12 and 20, these diagonally extending brace members 50 extending in a first direction and the spacing also having other spaced apart bracing portions 54 extending in another or second direction which latter is transverse to the direction of the first bracing members 50. The second braces or bracingmembers 54 also extend diagonally with respect to' the upper and lower plates 12 and 20 but need not necessarily extend diagonally but are at the least transverse to the direction 'the first bracing members 50 extend and also transverse spot welding generally indicated at 60, such attachment being at points of interconnection between the respective ones of the braces 50 and 54.-

This has the effect that the bracing exerts forces against itself as well as against the composite plates 12 and 20 when the load presses transversely against one of the composite plates. 1

It is further preferred that certain of the bracing portions, namely the bracing portions 50 have elongated center portions each provided in cross section with two flanges 72 and 74 which are disposed at a right angle to each other or substantially so. The inner portions 70 are twisted 90 degrees along their length from their upper ends to their lower ends and'the first bracing portions 50 also have feet integral with the ends thereof and with each of the feet also having two flanges continuous with and forming parts of the flanges 72 and 74 and therefore disposed at a right angle with respect to each other.

The feet extend in parallelism with and are secured to adjacent parts of composite upper and lower plates 12 and 20 respectively whereby the feet on opposite ends 7 of each spacing member 50 extend in opposite directions. Each of the feet 89 are secured to the adjacent upper or lower composite plate 12 or 20 as can be done by any suitable means and bolts are shown in FIG. 5 'by way of illustration, the bolts 86 which are used on the upper plate 12 having their rounded heads on their upper ends and the bolts 88 which are used on the lower plate 2'0'havin'g their rounded heads disposed d ownwardly for concealing the nuts on the other end. 7

As will be best seen in FIG. 5, the feet 80 are each disposed at a point on the respective upper or lower plate 12 or 20 where two panels 14 overlap wherebythe bolts 86 and 88 extend through two thicknesses of panel material.

It is also preferred that the feet 80 be disposed at an uppermost part of the underside of the corrugated upper plate 12 and be disposed against an uppermost part of the corrugated lower plate 20 whereby the bracing mem bers 59 and 54 extend in rows, preferably one row at each overlapping edge area of each two adjacent panels, although it will be seen that bracings can be disposed inbetween the bracing as thus described if desired, or also that the bracing can be disposed in rows on only certain ones of the overlapping panel edge areas.

Referring now in greater detail to the cooperative relationship between braces 50 and 54 it will be seen that each brace 54 also has two flanges 96 and 98 which are disposed at a right angle with respect to each other but that it is not necessary for the braces 54 to have a twist in their center portions, hence they are straight.

The ends of each brace 54 preferably abut the center portion 70 of the respective brace 50 at the respective end thereof and at the corner formed by the foot portion with the center portion 70 of the braces 50;

The ends of each brace 54 are preferably beveled so as to have an inclination parallel to and abutting the respective flange of the respective brace 50 for greater strength.

Referring to FIG. l'it willb'e' seen that in this modification the upper and lower compositeplates 112 and 120 are similar in all respe'ctstothe composite plates 12 and 2%) of the modification'of FIG. 2 with the exception that the composite plates of the modification of FIG. 1 are curved or arched whereby when the structural unit of FIG. 1 is used as a roof of a building, the roof is curved and convex as seen from the outside and the ceiling is concave and arched as seen from the inside. As the bracing 130 in the modification of FIG. 1 is substantially the same in all respects as the bracing 30 of the modification of FIG. 2 no further description thereof is required. Also referring to the cross-section in the modification of FIG. 1, in which its end portion is the same as the cross-section shown in FIG. 6, For these reasons no further illustration is believed needed.

Referring to FIG. 3 we find structural unit 200 having an upper and lower composite plates 212 and 220 which latter are similar in a cross-section of their edge portions to the cross-section shown in FIG. 6 and otherwise similar to the modification of FIG. 2 with the exception that the upper composite plate 212 of FIG. 3 is arched or curved whereby it is convex on its upper side. The lower composite plate 228 is straight and horizontal, as best seen in FIG. 3, whereby the upper and lower composite plates lie in a relationship with each other similar to a bow and a bow string for forming a bow-string roof. The bracing 230 in the modification of FIG. 3 is similar to the bracing of the modification of FIG. 2 with the exception that the bracing which is nearer the center of the structural unit of FIG. 3 is provided with longer members than the spacing at the outer edges because of the greater distance between the composite plates 212 and 229.

It will be seen that any of the structural units described in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 can be used as a wall extending vertically or otherwise .and need not necessarily be used in the roof position used for purposes of illustration only.

it will be seen that the structural units of this invention are adapted to fulfill the objectives above set forth thus providing structural building units of greater strength proportional to their weight than conventional construction and adapted to eliminate much of the dead-load of conventional construction, and particularly adapted to eliminate parts used in conventional construction without eliminating the strength advantages of such parts.

From the foregoing description, it is thought to be obvious that a large span building covering unit constructed in accordance with my invention is particularly well adapted for use, by reason of the convenience and facility with which it may be assembled and operated, and it will also be obvious that my invention is susceptible of some change and modification without departing from the principles and spirit thereof, and for this reason I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise arrangement and formation of the several parts herein shown in carrying out my invention in practice, except as claimed.

I claim:

1. A structural unit for use in building construction and suitable for covering large areas and adapted for bridging giant unsupported spans comprising a group of corrugated panels disposed side-to-side, the corrugations of said panels being elongated and in parallelism with each other, means rigidly securing the edges of each panel to the adjoining edge of each adjacent panel whereby said panels are all connected together to form a single unitary first composite corrugated plate, a second such composite plate similarly defined and spaced from and lapping the first composite plates, and bracing means interconnecting said composite plates, said bracing means comprising spaced apart first portions and spaced apart second bracing portions each extending transversely to respective adjacent ones of said first bracing portions, said first and second bracing portions each extending at a substantial inclination with respect to the general areas occupied by said composite plates, said first and second bracing portions, as seen from a point normal to the general area occupied by said composite plates, both being approximately in alignment with said elongated corrugations, each said second bracing means having ends lapping respective different ones of said first bracing means, means for attaching respective adjacent ones of said first and second bracing portions together where they lap each other, means for attaching the ends of said first bracing means to said composite plates whereby said bracing exerts forces against itself as well as against said composite plates when a load presses transversely against one of said composite plates, said bracing means being spaced apart throughout the area of said composite plates sufficiently and being of such substantial quantity as to cause said composite plates and said bracing to function substantially as a single unitary structure of great strength proportional to its weight.

2. The structural unit of claim 1 in which certain of said bracing portions have elongated center portions each having two flanges at substantially a right angle to each other, said center portions being twisted from their upper ends to their lower ends and said certain bracing portions having feet integral with the ends thereof and also having two flanges disposed at a right angle with respect to each other, said feet extending in parallelism with and being secured to adjacent parts of said composite plates respectively.

3. The structural unit of claim 1 in which certain of said bracing portions have elongated center portions each having two flanges at substantially a right angle to each other, said center portions being twisted 90 from their upper ends to their lower ends and said certain bracing portions having feet integral with the ends thereof and also havin two flanges disposed at right angle with respect to each other, said feet extending in parallelism with and being secured to adjacent parts of said composite plates respectively, at least some of said certain bracing portions being abutted at the ends of their center portions by the ends of respective ones of the other bracing portions.

4. The structural unit of claim 1 in which said panels have parallel larger longitudinal corrugations and also have smaller longitudinal corrugations within said larger corrugations and extending parallel thereto.

5. The structural unit of claim 1 in which said first corrugated composite plate is substantially straight and fiat except for its corrugations and said second corrugated 7 composite plate is arched and disposed with respect to said first plate as a bow is to a bowstring to form a' bowstring roof. 7

6. The structural unit of claim 1 in which said first and second composite plates are substantially straight and flat and parallel with each other.

7. The structural unit of claim 1 in which said first and second corrugated composite plates are disposed in parallelism with each other and are each curved length- Wise to form an arch.

8. A structural unit for use in building construction and suitable for covering large areas and adapted for bridging giant unsupported spans comprising a group of corrugated panels disposed side-to-side, the corrugations of said panels being elongated and in parallelism With each other, the edges of adjacent panels being disposed in the overlapping and underlapping relationship, means rigidly securing the edges of each panel to the adjoining edge of each adjacent panel whereby said panels are all connected together to form a single unitary first composite corrugated plate, a second such composite plate similarly defined and spaced from and lapping the first composite plates, said bracing means for interconnecting said composite plates, said bracing means comprising spaced apart first portions andspaced apart second bracing portions each extending transversely to respective adjacent ones of said first bracing portions, said first and second bracing portions each extending at a substantial inclination with respect to the general areas occupied by said composite plates, said first and second bracing portions, as seen 'from a point normal to the general area occupied by said composite plates, both beingtapproximately in alignrnent With said elongatedcorrug'ations, respective adjacent ones of said second erase, portions lapping respective ones of said first brac'e'p'or'tions, means for attaching respective adjacent ones of said first and second bracing portions together Where they lap each other, means for attaching said bracing means to adjacent ones of said composite plates, the ends of both said first and second bracing portions thus being attached to other portions of said bracing means whereby said bracing exerts forces against itself as well as against said composite plates when a load presses transversely against one of said composite plates, said bracing means being spaced apart throughout the area of said composite plates sufiiciently and being of such substantial quantity as to cause said composite plates and said bracing to function substantially as a single unitary structure of great strength proportional to its weight.

References Cited in the file of this patent nnrrnn STATES PATENTS 

